It was nearly 8AM. Rachel was running late for what must have been the first time in her life, but she didn't care. She knew she would walk into Waterloo Road and be bombarded with questions as to where she'd been for the last week and why she was running late today when she was usually on time. But she didn't care.
It was safe to say that Adam was far from apologetic when he'd returned home the night after her first day back at work. He had come back for a second round the next day, this time punishing her for not going into work. She felt like she couldn't win. He hated everything she did or didn't do. He'd punched, kicked and hit her relentlessly, before forcing himself on her again and leaving the house to go to work. She'd tried to fight back, to defend herself, but she was too weak.
She knew that calling in sick and having a week off after her first day was unprofessional. She knew she would have a lot to catch up on and would have to hit the ground running if she wanted to get up to speed. She knew it would raise questions and suspicion. But she just didn't care.
She had been planning on going to work the following day, until she woke up the next morning unable to get out of bed due to the swelling and bruises caused by Adam. It had been painful just to breathe, let alone anything else. She would have taken herself to hospital had it not raised suspicions and questions from doctors about how she'd got the bruises and other injuries. And besides, he hadn't harmed the baby and that was the main thing. She had felt her kicking away frequently. As long as the baby was ok, there was no need to go to hospital.
Thankfully, Adam hadn't returned since that night. His absence hadn't eased her nerves. She had been on edge the whole time, knowing he could walk through the door at any time. She hated feeling so unsafe in her own home. If she could run away and never look back, she would. But right now it wasn't an option. She needed money to get her own place, and the only way to do that was to go to work. Thankfully, her injuries had healed enough for her to be able to move around, so she was going back to work.
She couldn't deny it, she was dreading going back today. It wasn't the paperwork or the kids that were making her reluctant. It was the questions that she knew would come from Kim and Eddie about her absence. She could handle being questioned on her whereabouts over the last week. She planned to lie and say she was ill. That part was easy. What she couldn't handle, was being questioned about the injuries she'd sustained, or who had caused them. And she knew the questions would come, even if she had taken precautions to hide the bruises. Kim was incredibly observant, as was Eddie. Even if they didn't see her injuries, they could both read her like a book and would know something was off no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
She winced as her bruised back made contact with the seat of her car. For at least the hundredth time in an hour, she checked her appearance in a mirror to make sure the colourful bruise, mild swelling and cut on her cheek was hidden, adding more concealer just in case. She pulled the sleeves down on her dress to cover the marks on her wrists. She knew she didn't look as pristine as she would usually, but it would have to do.
With a deep, shaky breath, she started the car and made her way out of the driveway. She knew she would be interrogated by her colleagues, but it didn't matter. What mattered was she was going somewhere where she was safe and where Adam couldn't hurt her.